After using it, I believe WeatherBrief can open a whole new world for ski area operators. With a computer and a simple modem hookup they can easily download text data representing current weather conditions, weather forecasts, highways weather reports, as well as color maps that graphically show radar-detected precipitation, cloud cover and various surface maps.
Recommended hardware would be a DOS-based computer, at least a 386/33, or better, any 486 with good color graphics capabilities and a printer. A color laser printer also allows for the output of the color weather maps. The installation of the software, reading of the manual and trial operation will take about five to eight hours and may cost $15 in telephone charges.
Absolutely essential is a very fast modem. After having experimented with various baud rates, I can attest that a 14.4 Kbps modem is a must and will pay for itself in a very short time. A 1,200 baud modem will take eight minutes to download one satellite picture and there will be charges for the telephone call plus 20 cents per minute charges from Weatherbank Inc; (the source of the weather information). If snowmakers have access to the computer, hourly satellite maps can be downloaded, which provides excellent estimates of cloud cover, movement and clearing skies when temperatures are marginal.
WeatherBrief provides many custom items and many interactive products from the National Weather Service (NWS) are available, as well. The most useful information is an interactive them from the National Weather Service, called NWS 205, giving temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction forecasts in three-hour intervals for the next three days. NWS information uses abbreviations and time is based on GMT, which creates a puzzle when interpreting the data. An additional very useful offering is a state-zone forecast and a seven-day average lows and highs forecast.
At Ski Paoli Peaks, we created a computer program that averages temperatures, humidity, wind speed and direction from three NWS weather information centers, creating data bases and compiling it to a specific location. The program provides a user with adjustable ski area location variables for the temperature. In addition, wind direction is interpreted into a more readable form. This program including X-base source code is available from Paoli Peaks.
WeatherBrief can be obtained from Weather Bank Inc. in Salt Lake City (801) 530-3181.
The combination of the two software pieces can generate a meaningful weather report for snowmaking purposes at a cost of about 20 cents per copy. This system may not replace a professional weather service, but with time and experience ski area operators will be amazed at the weather information they can access, at very low rates.
